Introduction:
Jigheads are some of the most versatile types of tackle available to anglers, yet are
surprisingly often widely overlooked. The reason jigheads don't receive the well
deserved attention is simply because they are just one part of the lure, not a
finished and easily identifiable bait in itself. New lifelike jigheads from
companies like Storm and Revenge are starting to change this, but most anglers
still rely on good old lead-heads for most of their rigging. We take a look at
Big Daddy's Select Football Jigheads to see just how "select" these
jigs really
are.

Big Daddy's
Jighead
Specifications

Material

Lead

Diving Depth

Any

Weight

1/4oz

Style tested

Football

Additional Features

lengthy hook, re-sealable packaging

MSRP

$1.99 (per pack of 5)

Impressions: Whether its a jig and grub, jig and tube, or jig and worm...the versatility of
these simple jigs never ceases to amaze me. Jig fishing is all about action, and
jigs seem to do a great job keeping lures bouncing in and out of the strike zone
enticing strikes. These same jigs can also be pitched or flipped, and even swam
back to the boat. Football heads like those found on our test BDS (Big Daddy's
Select) jigs are best suited for bottom work, where bumping and thumping
requires a head that won't easily get caught up.

Big Daddy's Football heads come 5
to a pack

There are cases when certain tackle immediately
catches my attention in terms of quality or design once I have had an
opportunity to really sit down and evaluate them, unfortunately the BDS Jigs
were not one such example. Out of our three bags (each containing 5 jigs each) 8
of them were flawed in one way or another. The lead molds were not within tight
tolerances and many of the plastic holding burrs were either deformed or
completely missing. This immediately made it more difficult to get plastics
rigged perfectly. The only other observation was that the hooks were set further
back than most jigheads, much more so than Gamakatsu or Owner originals.

Complete Rig
for Big Daddy's Jighead Tests

Rod

Bass
Pro Shops Bionic Blade BNC66MT

Reel

Shimano Curado

Line

12
lb Shakespeare Supreme (smooth)

Real
World Tests: We tested the BDS jigheads with Bass Pro XPS double tail grubs,
and the much more salt impregnated Yamamoto Hula Grubs in both deep water
jigging and along rocky outcroppings parallel to shore. Most of our tests were
conducted in favorable conditions with the water close to 60 degrees and water
clarity at 2-3 feet.

Casting: The 1/4oz jighead combined with a 5" plastic is
plenty enough weight to cast with a medium or medium/heavy rod. Casting distance
is unaffected by wind, and the lure combo is generally easy to flip and pitch
around structure. Because most anglers will rig the jighead exposed this is not
a setup that you will want to pitch directly into heavy cover. It is possible to
rig a jighead weedless, and we were able to do it with the BDS, thanks to the
extremely long hook. The BDS jighead can also be fished with a grub directly
under the boat by simply vertically jigging on the bottom or trying to target
suspended fish.

We had some concerns about
the quality and consistency of the lead molds, some of our jigs showed obvious flaws in the pours

Retrieve: When vertically jigging the head shape doesn't matter
much, but the football head on the BDS is absolutely great for working the
bottom. The heavier and wider head falls toward the bottom propping your rigged
grub's tail up, which looks much more like a realistic retreating craw to me.
This angle also tends to reduce snags, while increasing hookups from swift
strikes. When bouncing the jig back on the bottom the football head also
tends to stir up more dirt while plowing through structure rather than hanging
up, both very nice advantages. During our tests most of the strikes were
definitely noticeable as a tick-tick, and in some cases downright violent. The
BDS jighead has such a elongated hook that a lot of fish we hooked into seemed
to have set themselves, often quite far back in their mouths.

The longer hook allows you to
place the hook right at the center of 5 inch jigs like the Yamamoto Hula
Grub

Durability: The BDS Jighead can take plenty of punishment, though the
hooks do seem to bend rather easily. Still, they are durable and will easily
outlast most plastic grubs you choose to rig up. Like all jigheads once the lead
is exposed to water it will darken in color, but this doesn't seem to affect
performance at all. After a few uses the hooks did dull a bit, but a hook
sharpener gave the jigs a new lease on life.

The longer than average hook did
help stick more fish, some of which seemed to set themselves

Price:
The BDS jigs are economical...at 1.99 per each pack of 5 they are among the
cheapest jigheads on the market. But jigheads are not all that expensive to
begin with, and Gamakatsu and Owner originals usually cost 2.99 to 3.99 per
pack, equating to 20 to 40 cents more per jig. Bass Pro XPS jigheads usually
cost 1.99 to 2.69 putting them right at the same price point, yet these don't
seem to have the imperfections that plagued our BDS jigs. Is it worth it to pay
20 cents more for a jig that make use of a Gamakatsu or Owner hook, and feature
a perfect mold? We think so. Is it worth it to pay 40 cents more? Maybe not.
Whatever your preference, there are some cases when you are continually missing
strikes that you may want a much longer hook on your jig, it is in these cases
that you can overlook the BDS's flaws.

Ratings:

Big Daddys
Jighead
Ratings (?/10)

Construction/Quality

Inconsistent quality plagued our jigs, some of the jigs had missing burrs,
others had deformed lead pours. It bothered us how just over 50% of the
jigheads out of our 3 bags were considered flawed

5

Performance

The
performance of these jigs was good once rigged. They are a bit trickier to
rig because of the long hook and deformed lead, but there are advantages to
having a hook set back so far in some cases

8

Price

These jigheads may not be the prettiest but they are among the cheapest.
Maybe its a case of you get what you pay for

7

Features

There are few features on the BDS jigheads. Multiple sizes are available

6

Design
(Ergonomics)

The
design has us torn. There are advantages to the long hook layout, and we
like the large heavy football head but these are also limiting factors as
well

7

Application

This lure can be used effectively both vertically and in and around
structure. It can be jigged, cast, flipped, pitched, and bounced effectively.
The only thing the football head is not well suited for is swimming

8

Total Score

6.83

Pluses and Minuses:

Plus
Minus

J
Oversized football head avoids snags

L
Flaws in the lead molds

J
Good presentation when fishing

L
Inconsistent quality pack to pack

J
Low cost

Conclusion: I'm a bit torn on these jigs. The layout and
oversized football heads definitely are useful in certain circumstances, and I
did experience I higher hook up ratio than with jigs with significantly shorter
hooks. The jigs do have flaws in terms of the quality of their molds, and
consistency between bags. In some bags almost all the jigs are perfect, while
others had 3 of the 5 jigs exhibiting deformed lead burrs. Do they work in the
field? Yes. Are they the best choice for the money? That's debatable. If I were
out fishing for the weekend I think that these jigheads would do just fine, but
if I were in a tournament situation I would have to think twice about whether or
not saving 20 cents per jig was worth not arming myself with a flawless molded
jighead and a premium hook.